3^rd June 2018

Cathy posting,

Stopping for fuel this morning and Pogo is given a free face wash!

And he needed it too, even better Dave has managed to get a good Serbian map so we are all sorted, we can find our way finally and we are heading for Zlatibor and the scenery changes again back to softer meadows and extreme green pastures, we are surprised by Serbia its beautiful, its much like Montenegro but slightly rougher around the edges of the towns, the roads are mostly bad with more holes than a sieve!

Zlatibor is a very popular tourist resort in Western Serbia and it lies on the road linking Belgrade with the Mediterranean coast, Zlatibor means golden pine and it’s a big winter sports destination, a 30 kms long and 12kms wide plateau surrounded by mountain peaks, it lies 1100 metres above sea level, summer sports include tennis, basketball, paragliding and hang-gliding.

Camping Zlatibor is on a hill, electric and free, yes free, washing machine and tumble dryer so we know what we’re doing this afternoon then! There’s a nice breeze blowing too, it’s also the neatest and most manicured site we’ve been on so far, mostly they have been needing a tidy up being pre-season, you know, not summer yet!

As we arrived a big group tour from The Caravan and Camping Club had just left, they only use ACSI sites and we chatted to the last couple to leave who were from Manchester, their itinerary sounded great, they had been through Western Europe, Bosnia, Hungary then going on to Montenegro and then into Croatia but it cost over £2,300, this included some meals and entrance fees as well as site fees, I imagine it’s good fun especially when they sit around a BBQ with a vino or two and share stories, also someone else is doing all the planning and research so you only need to drive to the plan but add onto that the costs of fuel, gas and food and it’s an expensive way to travel in a Motorhome.

Camping Zlatibor, very neat

Later we meet a retired Kiwi couple Peter & Margaret we chat happily for an hour about travels, they spend a month in the UK each year before and after their European travels, they bought a van on-line and picked it up from Oxford where his cousin lives, they’re off to Kosavo, Montenegro and Albania they are very well-travelled and we are novices in comparison. Washing and chatting finished we walk gently uphill the 2 km to a recommended restaurant, the views from the deck are superb and it looks like the Yorkshire dales or Derbyshire peak district with rolling green pastures of varying colours and noting as we sit there that this high up drinking perch wouldn’t happen in the UK, no planning permission would be given.

the restaurant with the eating and viewing deck at the rear

loving life and the Jelen Pivo

The menu arrived!

what would you have ordered?

We’ve no Serbian and the waiter no English, he gets his phone out to do a google translate but I can smell a delicious aroma coming from the table behind, my palate is quite good and I’m guessing its Goulash or slow cooked meat and potatoes, I point over Daves’ shoulder and I indicate 2 of those please, and I was right it was huge chunks of veal with potatoes carrots and rosemary in a terracotta dish in a light stock and the best flatbread we have ever had, so light and puffy, we could have shared the meal really as it was so big. Dave tried the local Jelen beer it’s a very popular Pivo here and he likes it a lot, so much he had three! They had little bottles of very chilled Chardonnay and I had 2 of them, we had a good old chat about life and this adventure we are on and sorry to anyone going to work in the morning, but we don’t want to work again! We’ve just got to figure out how we can do it and we are more than happy to continue renting our house, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and for £20 or €23 it was good value.

delicious, the Serbian local speciality

We enjoyed the sunset as we walked back to Pogo.

Good night

Cathy x